Bitcoin Forum

Hello Bitcoiners!

I've been hanging around the last few days, posting silly questions and trying to get a handle. One of my main points of curiosity was how I could (a) buy some bitcoin and (b) spend some bitcoin. So a couple of nights ago after a *particularly* nice bottle (OK, I started into the second, so shoot me) I decided to unlimber the debit card and get purchasing...

And WOW it's a pain in the ass.

I can't use Paypal. OK, I get this - it's reversible. That's not what we want.

I can't seem to get Kraken going because they want a SEPA transfer. Give me a break please, I want my coins now, because I want to SPEND them now.

Circle doesn't like my card because I am not from the USA. From other people's posts on here, I am assuming there is a way around this, but I got stuck at the "Please enter a valid ZIP code". I'm from Ireland. You can, on a windy day, with a good lungful, spit from one side of the country to the other. We don't NEED zip codes. We all know each other, and just drop the mail around to each other's houses. OK, that's not true. Uncle Mick takes care of that, and he has a good pair of shoes.

So I find Virwox. Hey! I can buy these Lindenny thingies. And then they'll give me Bitcoin for them! Now, right?

Eh....no. You've probably figured out by now that I took the plunge anyhow, but I am a bit pissed at how the thing went down. Start an account, enter a debit card, buy the Lindenthings. OK, great so far. Except....the 15% (FIFTEEN FUCKING PERCENT?) fee. Alright, done is done, let's just convert the things and do something with the damn Bitcoin.

Except....no. I can trade from money in Lindenmebobs instantly, then I can trade from Lindenjobbies into BTC - but that part is not, of course instant. It requires a "manual step". Presumably someone has to look at it and think carefully for 48 hours, then click the button that says "Looks legit.". And it DID take 48 hours. 47.5 to be precise.

So OK, last night I got my 0.18 Bitcoin, purchase at the ball-shrivelling price of €50. Was mildly sozzled when I got it, so decided that it would be my "impartial review of games of chance" night. Blew the lot on a Bitcoin slot machine in a few hours. Honestly, I enjoyed myself. Can't complain about that, and I'll probably do that again.

But someone, please....there HAS to be an easier way??

The Bitcoin community wants uptake. And us shallow, newbie consumer types WANT to take it up. But when it's THIS damn hard....anyone else see this as a problem?

Ist.

You could have tried escrow and paypal to paypal payment?
Or someone in your country and a normal bank transfer?

There are trusted people on this forum who can provide such a service!

Yes! I bought my first time at virwox. ..
Much easy bitstamp, will take u two days to verify ur account but after this is much easy.
Bit-X also is a good choise.
Regards!

Congratulations, you're now a bitcoin owner. :)

I've use Bitstamp a few times, it's very easy, verification is the same as any other betting sites in EU, so I was quite used to it, and SEPA transfers usually take less than 24 hours, only work days.

The PayPal-to-Linden-to-BTC thing using Virwox is really, really old. I can't imagine using that system now. Hope you get a hold of some bitcoins and can start playing around.

kraken is pretty fast imo, it could take only 8-12 for a sepa(at least in my case), i don't see all the issue about having the money so fast, you can't have fiat so fast either

1 day transfer is perfectly fine

Look at it from the point of view of a person discovering Bitcoin for the first time.

I want to try it and I want to try it NOW.

Anything else I want on the net I can buy it, with my card, in 30 seconds.

Also, yes I can have fiat (This is Fungible...something something something right? - i.e. cash?) now. I stick my card in the hole in the wall, it gives me money, I go to the pub.

Dude , just go and find someone locally, they will be happy to sell it to you @ market prices without any fee whatsoever.
Also, maybe there's an exchange locally, we have one where we can deposit and buy bitcoins within a few hours, and there's probably one u can use also.
Post in your local board, people will guide you much better there.

cheers

lol, an escrow with paypal trades do NOT protect you from chargebacks, please remember that.

You can build up your rep on here... I buy and sell BTC for paypal all the time with some other members on bitcointalk. :)

Just dont let reputation delude you, i was trading alot also with paypal, and everything was great until one time i got suckered for ~500$ by a very trusted member,
what happened was that in the meantime he got into financial problems and just had to do what he did, in short (wow).
The best way is to trade with other non reversible options, and never go first, even if u traded with that person million times.

cheers

Exactly, very valid point. Please remember that accounts may be also traded between users and it happened in the past that someone bought a respectable account only for the purpose of scamming people.

In any case, welcome to Bitcoin. Have fun, but be careful.

Try Coinbase, super easy...but beware that you'll never get your private key so technically the wallets aren't yours to walk away with. That said they're very reputable and  while they make it super easy to purchase BTC you can then direct your purchased BTC to an offline wallet for safer storage.

Welcome!

Try localbitcoins.com. It is fast and convenient.

This is a problem a new guy see's the problem we need places for people to get near on instant access to Bitcoin, my first purchase was near on instant only took the time for me to learn my way around the site localbitcoins. Yes payed a slight premium but it was easy and never ad the agrow you are dealing with. Sorry to hear that and welcome and good luck :)

Whenever I hear this I always got nostalgic. This is how I got my first Bitcoins back in the day. It was really quick and I didn't need to give ID details or anything which was great, but man these fucking fees.

There are several services that would work perfectly for you: e.g. bitonic.nl or coinimal.com

then the only way is to buy it here on the forum, or face to face in real life

or localbitcoin...

There are easier ways : localbitcoins, friends, exchanges (get verified first).

I purchase most of my coins from members on this forum, use escrow it's safe, easy and quick.

I also got some coin though Coinjar, only problem doing that is you pay a GST of 10% on top of the price.
It can take a couple of days to buy your first bitcoins though a company like Coinbase or Coinjar and other exchanges.
To have the convenience of buying BTC straight from an account instant means the company needs to verify you and abide by KYC and AML laws.
I have been through all this with Coinjar and can now cash out straight to my bank if i need some quick cash.
I don't leave BTC or $ in my Coinjar account but it only takes 2 seconds to transfer some BTC from a paper wallet into the account then into fiat if needed.

Localbitcoins is always availble but most of the times i get much better rates from trusted members on this forum than LBC charge, the mark up is huge with some sellers.

get an international credit card and use circle?

You will get your BTC within minutes

I don't know where you are from but have you checked out your local community forum to find out if there's a chance to hook up with bitcoiners living close to where you stay around your are. I'm sure there are bound to be sellers, so you could actually set up an appointment to meet up at a local cafe and perform an instant exchange.

Welcome to the Bitcoiners club!

I understand your pain and frustration. I was in the same boat once because I live outside USA and there were no exchanges in my country.

However I found Bitstamp which accepts wire transfer from international bank accounts. it takes few days to get funds in your Bitstamp account but at least it works.

CEX.io has an option to buy with credit card, so they say I haven't tried it. I can't recommend it but you can also look into it if your still interested in this approach.

Yes welcome aboard!

How much is the international wire though?

Last time i done one it cost like 30 euro :/ I will look into bitstamp because i find it hard getting coin without having to pay the premium.

If it is just a question of getting coins with CC, then circle and amazon4btc might be options too.

I found this site, they claim to be the Irish Bitcoin Foundation with tips and tricks for Irish bitcoin users.

http://www.bitcoinirl.ie

This is what came up on the website for buying bitcoins:


I've never tried these services personally, so use at your own risk.

You might also want to check out the rest of the website, it's quite interesting. Hope this helps!

i have never used CEX.IO to buy bitcoin with money but i have read some negative comments on the confirmation time which is long, if you want to use their services do a little search first

OP, I really enjoyed your post... full of chuckles and giggles.  ;D ;D ;D

I feel your pain though.... people from countries ouside of the USA seem to struggle to get hold of Bitcoins. Even if you are using Circle, you still have difficulty when you live outside the USA.

The KYC and AML laws is a pain in the a$$ to get verifiied, and it's a huge obstacle for many people, to get bitcoins.

I am lucky, because I have family, who lives within a few blocks from a Bitcoin ATM. {So I have to ask them to buy BTC for me}  

Last time I checked, Bitstamp was charging $15 flat for wire transfer, regardless of the amount you send.
They have recently changes their fees structure and have lowered the trading fees. Not sure about deposit fees.

30 Euro is very high.

I'm sure bitcoininsanity can help you if you're paying with paypal with small amounts.

Also, check out localbitcoins, if you're looking for locals to do you a deal.

I purchased my first 0.2btc a couple weeks ago and had the same impression.  I live in the USA, so I have a few more options available to me, but I still had to sign up with about 5 different exchanges before I found one that I could get btc from within an hour or two with a simple payment method (for example, I did not want to have to mail a check in and wait like a week for my btc).  I ended up using BitQuick and was very happy with their service.

Congratulation brother, use your bitcoin to do trading or buy goods and pay attention with the safe system, use 2FA in your wallet  :)

Kudos for buying!

Well, it has to start somewhere! Five years ago I wasn't around, but I imagine it was incredibly difficult to get anything from bitcoin.
Now, having the possibility to purchase giftcards with it is already quite amazing :)

You guys don't pay wire transfers to your banks? I am not in the usa, tried signing with circle and coinbase with no joy i am having to use localbitcoins still at the moment that is a bit over priced but pretty simple would like something as simple for cheaper though lol

Part of the reason for the development of ATMs is to get over this hurdle. It is a pain in the arse to get in and out of bitcoin at the moment if you are new to the space.  Needs to be super simple many people want this.

Congrats at your first purchase!

I don't think I follow your question here. But what I meant to say was Bitstamp accepts wire transfers from any bank account in the world and $15 was charged for this by Bitstamp.

So if you send them$300, you get $285 in your Bitstamp account.
If you send them $700, you get $685.

It was a $15 flat fee.
I'm not sure if the $15 amount has changed in their new fee structure.

LocalBitcoin is one option if your willing to meet in person. I hope more Bitcoin BTM's are available to make them more accessible for everone! It solves the problem for easy access.

You must be feeling great now. Barely 4 days past and you must be at break even. Welcome to the world of BTC, enjoy your ride :)

Well, as I mentioned, I had a teeny flutter on one of the casinos I saw advertised in someone's sig :)

But yes, nice rise in price the last few days - kinda makes me wish I had gone a couple of hundred quid really. But I'll have another flutter soon, and this time I'll try to hang on to it a bit longer!

Never go onto a gambling website. Even if you can afford to do so.

Now hold those bitcoin for a later date when they're worth more. I would suggest putting them in cold storage if you are going to do that.

Cold storage is added security.

Congrats on your first purchase!
Now make sure you secure your wallet and hang on to your hard earned coin

Congrats! you're now a bitcoin owner. :)

Just realized this is an old thread so I'm guessing you've already solved your problem by now. I just thought I'd mention this relatively new exchange that I learned about from Twitter yesterday, https://www.247exchange.com/ Apparently they make it real easy for people to buy BTC and other coins with debit and credit cards. I haven't used them personally so I cannot really recommend them but the site itself looks legit enough.
BTW enjoyed your opening post  :D

so you bought your first 0.18 bitcoin.last week i was bought my first bitcoin to just $10 worth in bitcoin through paypal,my friend from pakistan sold it to me and i though thats the best idea to stored it for long time

localbitcoins.com easiest way to buy